


The Things We Do Not Say

by gllh0222



Category: 1917 (Movie 2019)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:08:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28241421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gllh0222/pseuds/gllh0222
Summary: There are two things of which William Schofield is absolutely certain:1. He is head-over-heels, undeniably, and irrevocably in love with Thomas Blake.2. Thomas Blake is straight.
Relationships: Joseph Blake/William Schofield, Tom Blake & William Schofield
Comments: 3
Kudos: 20





	The Things We Do Not Say

There are two things of which William Schofield is absolutely certain:

1\. He is head-over-heels, undeniably, and irrevocably in love with Thomas Blake.   
2\. Thomas Blake is straight.

Long before he arrived on the fields of France, Will knew he was different than other men. Where his friends chased after the girls around town, taking them on dates, and joking about what they would do if they ever got the chance, he never felt interested. Girls were a mystery he didn’t feel like trying to unravel.

Instead he found himself lost in the silence looking at other boys the same way they looked at the girls. He didn’t know what it meant, only that it probably wasn’t right. 

When Thomas Blake arrived in the trenches Will once again found himself looking. In front of him was a magnetic, charming, young man who without a second thought had wormed himself into a hole Will didn’t know his heart had. 

Almost immediately they are inseparable. They work their way through the trenches and across battlefields together. Blake chattering the whole time, filling what could be empty silences with laughter and light. Will knows he should be more mindful but he can’t help the place Tom has carved for himself in Will’s soul. 

There is something about Tom that fills Will with a special kind of hope. From the man’s boyish features and rounded build to the deep oceans that are his eyes something about Tom is different and Will wonders if they are alike in the way Will can only wish they are. 

He thinks about asking Tom. 

He knows it would be dangerous and yet Will thinks it might be ok. 

He is wrong.

Tom does not hurt him when Will asks, but something about their friendship changes. Gone are the little moments, the soft touches, the brief glimpses where Will found his hope. Instead there is a divide - a hole ripping itself through their friendship and Will wishes Tom had just punched him instead - he thinks it might have hurt less. 

In the months after Will’s confession they find their way back to friendship, a thing Will is grateful for. Knowing Tom doesn’t feel the same way is painful, but it is a pain far more bearable than the idea of a life without Tom. 

On April 6th, 1917 learns how much a life without Tom can hurt. 

Will doesn’t know how to say goodbye. It happened so suddenly - one second he was turning, trying to get water then next he is holding this man who he loves so much as he lays dying. Will cannot remind Tom how much he cares, so he tries to show him. Cradling him, keeping himself from sobbing while he assures the younger man that he will save his brother. 

It’s all he can anymore. 

With Tom dead, Will must continue on his mission his heart broken in a thousand little pieces that get lost along the way. 

By the time he delivers his message and finds Joe he is nothing but a dead man walking - empty, void of love and hope, ready to leave the world behind. He wishes for a swift end that does not come. 

Instead he finds himself alone by a tree, exhausted, staring at the photo of his sister and her daughters. When the war is over, this is what he will go back to. He will have to find a woman, marry her, pretend that he could love her in the way he should because if someone so perfect, so well suited to him as Tom was did not feel the same, he doubted anyone would. 

In the days following his mission he finds comfort in Joe Blake. 

The older man is very like his brother - social and kind, taking Will in until he can be reunited with his unit. They bond over stories of Tom and sit together in silent grief. Will finds peace in their silence and slowly his heart begins to heel. 

As the weeks go on he and Joe become inseparable in a way that is so different from his friendship with Tom. They work and fight alongside each other, but there is more than that. They find comfort in the silence and Will finds himself swayed by the older Blake’s quiet confidence. 

When they are resting, Will sometimes finds himself comparing the two. On first glance they are the same - eyes as blue as the ocean - but where Tom was all youth and roundness, Joe is sharp edges and sure movements. Where Tom was loud and overtly sure of himself, Joe is quiet, calm, carrying a sureness that is only won in experience. 

Will hates to admit it, but Joe is also stealing his heart. 

Where loving Tom was nerve-wracking, sudden and painful, loving Joe happens slowly, with a certainty Will didn’t know was possible. He hates to admit it to himself, but he knows if he had met Joe first, Tom would not have a hold on his heart. 

He doesn’t know what to do with the feeling. He knows he cannot act on it - like his brother Joe is not the same as Will. But overtime Will finds his love for Tom fade into something like a brother would feel and finds Joe holds his heart. 

It’s their first leave together, months after Will had accidentally joined the 2nd, where things begin to change.

After Tom, Will refused to find hope again, he was alone in his affliction and he would not be so lucky to be kindly rejected twice. But his heart wouldn’t cooperate - in the quiet moments of their leave, on the train, as they arrive at Joe’s farm, he finds himself looking at Joe and something flickers when he finds Joe looking back. 

On their first night they find themselves standing outside of Joe’s room, silent, unable to remove their eyes from each other. A lifetime seems to pass before Will retreats to the room he has been offered and yet he wonders if he should have followed the older man. 

When they make it back to France nothing has happened, but everything has changed. 

Joe looks back. 

Will doesn’t know what to do with the information. It’s overwhelming. In all his years he’s never found anyone like him. No one looks back - but Joe did. 

Their friendship doesn’t change - it can’t, but Will find himself surrounded more and more by the older man. Where before they sometimes took meals separately or completed different jobs, it seems like Blake always has an excuse to be around Will. 

It all comes to a head as armistice is announced. 

The fighting is over. 

For a moment Will feels like he can breathe again, but soon terror fills him. He will go home and Joe will stay behind. The thought shakes him and he knows that when he leaves France - when he leaves Joe - any hope he may have had will be gone. 

He cannot bare it. 

Over his rations he finds himself looking at Joe, for what may be one the last times and without a doubt Joe is looking back. 

It feels different than before, Will knows he must act. 

He stands and Joe follows. 

They make their way, slowly headed to the edge of the camp. Will is overwhelmed. He doesn’t know what will happen, but he know what he wishes would though he cannot bring himself to make the first move. 

So he looks and in Joe he finds answers to questions he never knew he had. 

“Schofield,” Blake whispers, pulling him closer, “Will.”

“Joe,” he sobs out. 

Without another breath their lips meet and suddenly Will feels whole for the first time. He is unable to stop, unable to let go - if this is all they have Will will make sure this moment lasts forever.


End file.
